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Tribune Staff

Despite each of their teams running minus one top runner, the Powell High School cross country teams fared well in Lander last Thursday. The Panther girls tied for first place in a hotly-contested three-way battle. Powell's boys were second behind the host school.

It was everything you would want in a match between two old rivals when the Powell Lady Panthers invaded the Cody gym Thursday night.

Everything, that is, except the final score. In a hard fought match in which two games required extended play and the largest winning margin in any game was only three points, the Lady Panthers fell to the Cody Fillies in four games, 26-28, 22-25, 27-25,24-26.

“The girls played hard,” said Coach Cindi Smith. “It was a good match. I'm really proud of them for that effort.”

All four games followed the same pattern, with the Lady Panthers pulling out to a lead early in the match, and the Fillies coming back to pull even. The Panthers reached 24 first in game one, but couldn't hold the serve and the teams traded points to a tie at 26. Cody scored the last two points, though, with the winner coming on a hard Cody hit that Kadi Cooley dug, but the officials ruled her effort a double hit.

In game two, the Lady Panthers fought back from a deficit to come within one point at 22-23, but Cody's big front line powered in two kills to take a 2-0 match lead.

Game three was more of the same, with a Powell lead melting in the middle part of the match and the teams trading points to the end. Behind 24-23 and with their backs to the wall, the Lady Panthers got a block from Kendra Ostrom that stopped match point and tied the game at 24. The Lady Panthers stepped up to score the next two points and win game three.

Game four again went down to the wire. The Fillies led late and had a chance to end the match, but the Lady Panthers held off two match points to tie the score at 24. They couldn't hold serve, though, and Cody scored the final point when their kill attempt hit the top of the net and spun over at an angle, evading a block attempt by Liz Tilley and dropping to the floor before a diving Olivia Rogers could reach it.

The win, which ended four years of frustration for the Fillies, triggered a Cody celebration worthy of the state finals. Powell had won seven straight regular season victories matches over Cody, dating back to 2006 and had also bested the Fillies in the state semi-finals last year. Early this season, the Panthers had taken the Fillies 2-0 in tournament play on this year's opening weekend.

The loss was the Lady Panthers first in conference play in four years.

It was a disappointing loss for the Lady Panthers, but Smith said a close match such as this one can be a positive. The home-court advantage may have given the Fillies a boost, but adusting to the noisy crowd “is part of the growing experience,” for the new varsity members.

Utlimately, the match turned on a few mistakes at critical times, and Smith said that will give her team something to work on.

“Tonight they'll be ready at practice, and will look at what worked and what didn't,” Smith said. “We'll continue to grow.”

Three Lady Panthers were perfect from the service line during the match, led by Ostrom who was 31 for 31. Cooley was perfect on 11 and Rogers on 14. Ostrom served two aces, while Randi Asay and Hannah Groves each served three.

Asay led in kills with 16, followed by Rogers with 12 and Ostrom with six. Groves led defensively with 20 digs, while Rogers made 14 and Ostrom nine. Tilley, Asay and Ostrom each made one unassisted block and assisted on two.

The Lady Panthers will be back in conference play this week when Lander and Worland visit the PHS gym. On Thursday, the Powell girls will be looking to reverse their fortunes against the Lady Tigers, who defeated them in a 3-game match in Billings at the Montana-Wyoming Challenge earlier in the season. Saturday they take on the Lady Warriors, who defeated Cody at home last week and are 1-0 in the conference.

Thursday's matchup begins at 6:30, following freshman and JV matches at 4 and 5 p.m. Saturday's match begins at 5:30 p.m. a change from the original time. JV competition begins at 4. The freshman team will be competing in Riverton.

It's easy to notice the bright green paint and solar panels at Plaza Diane. Less obvious are other ways the downtown plaza is green — from the recycled materials used in the building to the outdoor water conservation system.

Plaza Diane is Powell's first LEED-certified building, joining just nine other certified projects in Wyoming and 32,000 projects worldwide.

Overseen by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED is the most widely used and recognized green-building initiative in the nation.

Plaza Diane incorporated LEED standards through its energy-harnessing solar panels and irrigation drip system that conserve electricity and water.

The center was created from an old World War II-era filling station; rather than demolishing the entire building and starting anew, architects reused the existing building and found ways to recycle or reuse 90 percent of the material.

With green design elements in place, the challenge now is to keep Plaza Diane operating as an energy-efficient center.

Some critics of the national LEED program have said that though the green buildings may be environmentally friendly by design, there's no follow-up to verify that projects actually conserve energy down the road.

“What really needs to happen is the transformation of the owners and the operators of the buildings to ensure that the building is being operated properly,” said Rick Fedrizzi, head of the USGBC, responding to critics in an NPR interview.

The Plaza Diane Board of Directors (which includes two owners of the Powell Tribune) is seeking independence from the city of Powell in operating the community arts center, and as leaders move forward, we encourage them to look for ways to continue operating it as an energy-efficient building.

With its LEED certification, Plaza Diane has become a local model for green building —one that can lead the way in the community and entire Big Horn Basin.

National Geographic photographer Sam Abell describes his career and his life during NWC visit

When he was 10 years old, Sam Abell watched as his father took photographs as the Ringling Brothers Circus arrived on a train in Toledo, Ohio.

His father documented the process through pictures as circus crews unloaded all the animals and paraphernalia. Then Sam watched, spellbound, as handlers guided powerful elephants to set up the big top circus tent.

Bringing an anticlimactic end to a heated legal battle over its 2006 approval of the Copperleaf subdivision, the Park County Commission reaffirmed the conditions of the controversial Wapiti development in a brief, uncontroversial hearing on Tuesday.

The hearing was the result of an April Wyoming Supreme Court decision ordering county commissioners to reconsider several conditions they relaxed at a 2006 contested case hearing. In that hearing, the county agreed to allow Copperleaf's developer, Worthington Group of Wyoming, to install a gated entrance, have semi-private roads and multi-family townhouses — things the county originally denied in the upscale, 155-lot subdivision.

Northwest College bull rider Cayd Kluesner finds himself in a tough position after being thrown during competition in the 2010 Trapper Stampede. The Trapper men finished fourth and the women third in the final team standings. Tribune photo by Kevin Kinzley

Montana State sweeps first fall events

The Northwest College women placed third while the NWC men were fourth on both days of the Trapper Stampede rodeo this past weekend. The Friday and Saturday events, which were scored individually, marked the beginning of the 2010-2011 collegiate rodeo season.

Bareback rider Jordan Gill was the lone winner at Friday's session. Gill scored a 72-point ride to finish two points better than Miles' Brendon Lemmon. Clinton Griffis was fifth overall in the final standings.

Through the early part of the season, Northwest College head volleyball coach Flavia Siqueira has already dealt with more than her share of physical problems. While the injuries have forced her to juggle her lineup multiple times, she's confident she can handle that part of the equation.

The mental issues, however, have her baffled.

In a season filled with early contests against top 10 opposition, the Trappers proved little more than a speed bump for ninth-ranked Laramie County Community College on Tuesday night, falling in three games 25-10, 25-19, 25-13. Afterward, Siqueira wasn't shy with her critique of the team's performance.

“We played scared and immature,” she said. “It was the worst game I've seen.”

The Trappers' coach acknowledged that LCCC was a strong team. That alone, however, doesn't explain the match's final margin.

“They have some good hitters,” Siqueira said. “But it isn't something we haven't seen already this year and its not something we can't stop. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that, mentally, we weren't there. We've been doing that a lot lately.”

The loss was the Trappers' first within Region IX North play this season. Coupled with Monday's 25-16, 25-15, 24-26, 25-22 victory at Eastern Wyoming, the Trappers are now 4-9 overall this season.

Randi McInerney and Sandrina Hunsel paced the Trappers' attack at the net in that contest. The pair drew praises from Siqueira for their play in the match.

The road won't get any easier for the Trappers this weekend. The team travels to the College of Southern Idaho to participate in the school's Top 10 Tournament.

Northwest College is slated to face Salt Lake, North Idaho, Frank Phillips, Snow College and the host CSI squad at that event.

Four of those five teams appear in this week's NJCAA national rankings. The College of Southern Idaho carries the No. 3 ranking into the event. Salt Lake is two places lower at No. 5. Frank Phillips, 8-2 this seaosn, checks in at No. 13, while North Idaho is ranked No. 19. The Trappers dropped a decision to Snow College to begin their 2010 season.